finethen wrote:
I guess what I don't understand is how ISP addresses connect well enough with individuals. Does that mean you are responsible for what goes on at an office computer if you are the primary person who uses it? If child pornography is accessed from a household of 4, how do they do anything with that?
I have a computer at home that I only plug in to the inter internet for music. Its old and never used. ISP addresses would even implicate me then? I guess I don't understand. I can see a comp connecting the police to a certain state, but house? much less person? Crazy.

When you dial up your ISP you log in with your username and password. A computer at the ISP reports the time of the call, the account used, the IP address assigned, and the time the call disconnected. From this the police know that your account was used with a particular IP address during a particular time. The ISP obviously knows who you are as they are charging you for Internet access. This may not be enough information to get a conviction, but its certain enough to point the police in your direction. Depending on the circumstances they may collect other evidence, say by searching your house, that proves that you were personally responsible for the activity they are investigating. Its possible that someone else was using your computer or that your login and password were stolen. This does happen from time to time, but in general these possibilities do not stop prosecutors from getting convictions.

RE: U.S. Wants Companies to Keep Web Usage Records - New York Times